[Bubblegum]

Hello everyone! I find myself in a tricky situation. I’ve adopted two baby rats (females) and from the start it has been a tricky situation because they are completely untamed, Extremely skittish and they do not like humans. They are 4 months old and I’ve had them for about 3 months. I’ve tried being very patient and they definitely made some progress (we went from them hiding as soon as I come in the room to them licking food of my fingers and sniffing me out when I’m in the playpen with them). One of the two is actually quite sweet and isn’t problematic: I can Cary her if needed, she interacts with me a little. And as much as I would wish for her to interact more with me (play for instance) I’m definitely content with her

so this brings me to the problematic part: her sister bites (she probably already bite me like 10 times~). She accepts food from me and kind of stopped biting my fingers. But I can’t really touch her although I tried working on getting her used to my touch these last days. But today, as I was stroking her a little, she bit me really badly (again!) It is quite problematic because it is impossible to hold her or carry her (one time I had to cus she escaped and she bit me really badly -cut a nerve in my finger with her teeth..)

i found a way to still let them out everyday because the playpen is around the cage. But every time it’s a mess to get her back inside the cage. Also I have to put them in a travel cage this weekend and I have no clue how I’ll manage this since I cannot touch her. I’ve read about the burrito method for agressive rats but it’s impossible to pursue cus any time I try to hold her she screams, jumps and bites…

I’m desperate for help… I don’t have a clue how I’m supposed to proceed in this situation but I don’t want to give them away so I’m asking for advice here .. (the information is quite limited on how to handle these situations on internet)
SO I’m opened to ANY advice because I’m lost …

rats professionals please help me out 🙏🏼

 

[Drei Lotusblätter - Gwen]

I use, slightly over-sized, dish gloves. They're more likely to catch the material rather than you and if they do catch you, it's just a pinch. But I use them for any "non-affectionate" care. They're super cheap and it's a pretty good solution until you can bond better with your spicy potato.